You probably used English as a lingua franca, what happens is that whoever watches you doesn't understand 99% of what you're saying except for a few keywords. This has caused a lot of diplomatic grief even between allied countries, because without context the worst is always assumed (cognitive bias, I guess). It seems to me a similar situation applies here so a list of words to avoid or replace would be a sensible thing to use.
Sounds reasonable, but we weren't given it as "the Chinese might make a mistake, be careful" it was "here's a list from the people who will be watching, they say you can't use these words".
